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The Children and Asthma in America survey shows a concerning difference between how parents perceive their child’s asthma and how children themselves perceive their disease. In fact, when comparing responses of parents and their children with asthma who were 10 to 15 years of age, the survey showed that the majority (71%) of parents and their children disagreed about the child’s overall health status (Figure 22). Additionally, almost half of children (46%) indicated that they didn’t want to worry others about their asthma, so they don’t admit it when asthma is the reason they miss activities (Figure 23)
Many parents and their children consistently disagreed on when and which asthma symptoms the child experienced.
- More than one-third of parents and their children (38%) disagreed that the child had no asthma symptoms (e.g., shortness of breath, wheezing, breathing problems) in the past four weeks (Figure 24)
- More than one-third of parent/child pairs disagreed that the child experienced specific symptoms in the past four weeks, including coughing (46%), shortness of breath (44%), wheezing (40%) and breathing problems (37%) (Figure 24)
- Forty-five percent disagreed that the child experienced any daytime asthma symptoms in the past four weeks, while 31% of parents and their children disagreed that the child was awakened at night by asthma symptoms in the same period (Figure 25)
- Forty-six percent disagreed that the child experienced any asthma symptoms during exercise in the past four weeks (Figure 25)
Parents and their children also disagreed about the impact of asthma symptoms on the child’s life.
- Seventy-seven percent of parents and their children disagreed on how often asthma is the reason children cancel, postpone, interrupt or stop an activity (Figure 26)
- Overall, 62% of parents and their children disagreed on the worst aspect of having asthma; the responses where parent/child pairs had the highest levels of disagreement were: restrictions on activities (32%), ability to play sports (23%) and inability to breathe (21%) (Figure 27)
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